“We knew something was going after your humans and tried to get in touch with you last week, but whenever we responded to Guardian energies, we always found the senior Cardinals.” Dante’s glance swept us. “From the aggressive way they went after your humans, I think the Order might be involved.”
“The Order?” Sykes asked.
“The new Hermonite High Council,” Dante explained.
“It’s made up of representatives from each house,” Kael added.
Someone cursed. I reeled with shock. The demons had planned to select a new ruler during the mortal combat battle on Jarvis, but we’d foiled their plans when Bran won. Obviously the crafty demons had found a way to come together after all.
“Who’s their leader?” Remy asked.
“What makes you think they’re involved?” Bran asked at the same time.
“We don’t know their leader because we’re out of the loop since…” Dante glanced at me then away. I had a feeling he meant to say since my father was defeated. “But the council has been holding secret meetings since the combat on Jarvis Island. Like clockwork, they met every Friday night until a week ago. Something happened to stop them from meeting. The day after, young Hermonites began to disappear from their homes. No one knows why. At the same time, your humans were being targeted. That kind of efficiency means a lot of demons working together under a single directive.”
“The ones at the restaurant believed we were behind the kidnapping,” I said. “How do you know so much when you are out of the loop?”
Dante shrugged.
Bran chuckled. “You have someone on the inside.”
Dante didn’t deny it, but neither did he admit it. Instead, he bowed toward me again. “We will contact you once we get more information on the Tribe and Mount Hermon.”
“May I see, uh, your arm?” I asked before they could leave.
Dante looked ready to argue, then he pulled back the sleeve of his coat. He had a nasty burn on his skin. Kael scowled.
“Can you self-heal or do you have someone to heal it?” I asked.
“I do. I’ll be in touch.” He bowed briefly.
“What if I want to contact you?” I asked before he could teleport.
He hesitated, his eyes narrowed. I was tempted to telepath him that I knew he and Kael had lied to us. They knew more than they’d told us about the Tribe, but with my crazy powers, I could hurt him worse than I already had.
“Use your powers and we’ll find you,” he said then dematerialized.
“Now that we have those two in our corner once again, let’s eat.” Sykes patted his stomach and started for the door.
“I don’t know if they’re really ‘in our corner’ as you put it, Sykes,” I said. “They know more about the Tribe than they told us and what they know scares them.”
Sykes groaned. “Damn. Now you’ve ruined my appetite.”
- 9 -
THE CONFERENCE
Mrs. D was waiting for us when we arrived at HQ, her glasses dangling on the tip of her narrow nose.
“Where have you been?” she demanded, eyes slitting like a cat’s. “We’ve been trying to contact you for hours. “Return your weapons and head straight to the conference room.”
“What’s going on, Mrs. D?” Izzy asked.
“Ask the Cardinals. Don’t keep them waiting,” she snapped.
We looked at each other. No one spoke, but we were thinking the same thing—we were finally going to get some answers.
Inside the conference room, the senior Cardinals sat at one end of the large circular table, their expressions unreadable. My grandfather, the Cardinal Psi Guardian, waved us toward the empty chairs. He wore his “leader of the Cardinals” face, not the indulgent, loving Grampa I saw around our house. Like the other Cardinals, he wasn’t dressed for hunting, which was strange. He studied me intently as though searching for something. I gave him a brief smile, which he didn’t return. Not a good sign.
“How long have you had that headache, Lil?” he asked in a soft voice, though the vibes from him indicated he was angry.
“Since the attack on the island.”
“Yet you still left the valley?”
Confused, I glanced at my friends. They wore bewildered expressions, too. “Master Haziel said it was okay.”
“Is he also the one who said you could take the dagger instead of leaving it behind to be examined?” Grampa barked.
“Yes. Didn’t he explain?”
“He is not here to explain anything, but I’m sure he gave you a reasonable explanation for allowing all of you to leave the valley after an attack and with a dagger that is practically useless.” He pinned me with a glare.
I made a face and glanced at the others. All the junior Cardinals looked down without speaking. Bran was the only one staring at Grampa as though he’d lost his mind. This wasn’t what we’d expected. I couldn’t tell them Master Haziel hadn’t approved of the way they’d kept the secret about the Tribe from us.
“You have nothing to say? Could it be that the decision to leave the valley didn’t really come from Master Haziel?”
“That is correct, Cardinal,” Bran said, leaning forward. “Master Haziel didn’t suggest it. I did, and he supported my decision. I thought seeing Mrs. Watts might trigger Lil’s memories, especially after some words we’d mentioned caused her to remember a few things.”
“Did it?” Cardinal Seth asked sharply, speaking for the first time.
Bran shook his head. “No, but we learned something else while in L.A. Demons visited Mrs. Watts, wiped her memories just like the ones that attacked us wiped Lil’s. Even though they also made all her children ill, we thought we might be dealing with the same demons.”
The Cardinals didn’t look surprised, confirming our suspicions that they already knew about the attacks.
“Why didn’t you come right back home once you realized the same demons were out there attacking humans?” Grampa asked.
Bran’s eyes narrowed. “We had to confirm that the attack on Mrs. Watts wasn’t an isolated incident. You told us to always confirm things before bringing them to your attention, Cardinals.”
Grampa’s eyes flashed. “That is beside the point. Lil had just been attacked, her memories wiped and she had no control over the Kris Dagger—”
“She could handle herself, Cardinal,” Bran snapped.
“You do not tell me what my granddaughter can or cannot handle.”
Bran sat back, hands fisted.
“You have no idea what’s at stake here,” Grampa continued, “the danger you put all of them in.”
“That is not my fault, Cardinal,” Bran shot back. “She would not have been attacked if we’d known what we were dealing with in the first place, how to fight them and protect ourselves. She should have been prepared. We all should have been prepared.”
“No one can be prepared—” Grampa paused then added, “Where did she go?”
Until he asked the question, I hadn’t realized I had dematerialized. I hovered near the ceiling, so angry I wanted to zap them both. It hurt to watch them tear each other apart because of me. Worse, they were fighting over something they couldn’t change.
Lil, Bran ordered, looking directly at where I hovered as though he could see me. Get back down now!
Don’t talk to me in that tone.
He sighed. Please.
No. I refuse to sit there while you two continue with your stupid and senseless fight.
“It is not senseless when you and your friends’ safety are at stake,” Grampa snapped.
He heard me? Of course, he could. He was a powerful Psi. It’s not Bran’s fault, Grampa. He gave me a choice to either stay behind or go with them. I chose to go.